Anna Ahlers

Anna Lisa Ahlers is Associate Professor of Modern Chinese Society and Politics at the University of Oslo and Senior Policy Fellow for Chinese Domestic Politics at MERICS, in Berlin. Her interests include the administrative system and local governance in China, as well as the comparative analysis of value patterns and inclusion formulas in authoritarian regimes. Among her latest publications is the book Rural Policy Implementation in Contemporary China: New Socialist Countryside (Routledge, 2014). Currently, Ahlers is studying the designs and effects of China’s new air pollution control policies in different cities and exploring the concept of “authoritarian environmentalism.”

One of the hallmarks of Xi Jinping’s leadership has been a centralization of power across a whole range of areas of domestic politics. This week, the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership meets in Beijing for the sixth plenary session of its 18th...